Liu, a Democrat who may run for mayor next year, rejected a
contract for the so-called Taxi of Tomorrow because it’s not
wheelchair accessible. The agreement with Nissan, Japan’s
second-biggest carmaker, may violate the Americans with
Disabilities Act, he said today.

“We can go ahead and do it anyways, which we will,”
Bloomberg said today on his weekly show on WOR radio.

In June, a federal appeals court ruled that the city’s taxi
regulations didn’t violate the ADA. People who use wheelchairs
sued the city because it didn’t require more taxi owners to use
wheelchair-accessible vehicles. The court didn’t rule on the
city’s new cabs.

“This contract ignores the civil rights of New Yorkers who
use wheelchairs,” Liu said at a news conference, where he was
joined by a dozen people seated in them. “Serious issues remain
as to whether the Taxi of Tomorrow violates the Americans with
Disabilities Act.

Last year Nissan won a contract valued at $1 billion over
10 years to supply the minivans, which feature sliding doors,
more luggage space and airbags in the back. The taxis are
scheduled to arrive in the fourth quarter of next year.

New York City negotiated the contract on behalf of taxi
medallion owners and taxi drivers that own their own vehicles.
They will purchase the taxis, said Allan Fromberg, a spokesman
with the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Modified Later

“Nissan understands and respects the concerns presented by
disability advocates, which is why the NV200 Taxi is being
designed so that it can be modified for wheelchair users,”
David Reuter, a spokesman for Yokohama-based Nissan, said in in
an e-mailed statement. Other planned features include a lower
step-in height and grab bars.

About 230 of New York’s 13,000 yellow cabs are currently
wheelchair accessible, meaning users have less than a one in 50
chance of finding an appropriate taxi, Liu said.

“In the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, mandating a taxi
that is not wheelchair accessible raises a grave risk that
people who use wheelchairs will not be able to evacuate,” the
comptroller said

London’s taxis are all accessible, said city council member
Oliver Koppel, who joined Liu at the news conference.

‘Band-Aid’

The Taxi and Limousine Commission this year began a program
that allows people who use wheelchairs to call the city and get
picked up by an accessible taxi. Liu called that a “Band-Aid”
approach that costs hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

The comptroller acknowledged that the city charter allows
the mayor to override objections to contracts. Still, Liu
pointed out that over the last three years he has rejected
hundreds of contracts and the mayor hasn’t overridden them
despite threats to do so.

“He has never carried out his threats, and I hope he
doesn’t carry out this threat because it will be the wrong thing
to do,” Liu said. “This office will use every available
option, every available tool at our disposal to stop this so-
called Taxi of Tomorrow.”

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News
parent Bloomberg LP.